The “Awkward Black Girl”

“The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl” was written by Issa Rae who was inspired to do this webseries because she said that there aren’t a lot of African American women on the mainstream media she could identify with and so wanted to create a web series that featured herself and her daily life being awkward and black. Her series recently won the Shorty Award which fueled many racist comments and backlash against her. However, this is nothing new to her. In her series she seeks to satirize hateful speech and uses social media as a platform to increase awareness for African Americans. Her winning the show has been led by the Trayvon Martin case where supporters of him rooted for her show to win. In response she said ““I think it’s great for creation because it’s brought about awareness. The bad press has led many to my show,” said Rae, whose team just finished writing the first episode for the second season. “I thrive on obstacles. If I’m told that it can’t be told, then I push harder. They are creating opportunities for us as long as they continue to be racist.”

In response to a lot of the racist comments, she uploaded her thoughts on a website regarding hateful speech on the internet. She said that people write hateful comments waiting for an angry response to validate themselves “The internet has provided small communities for racism online and people feel free to do it, she said. “Ultimately, there should be some consequence – if you promote your racism online then there should be a consequence.” she said.

I think Issa Rae is an incredibly proactive woman who utilizes the media and the Internet to send a more important message to African American women that allows them to identify with her in a realistic way and also combat racism. She has an unbeatable attitude that makes her stronger each time someone tries to hurt her and uses the negative press to her advantage. I really admire women like her and I think she serves an incredible example of how racism can be combated, not an eye for an eye but understanding what others are seeking for and intelligently responding.